Alpha Offshore Taking Care of Turbine Blades at Egmond aan Zee OWF

Alpha Offshore Service is carrying out repair works on some 80 blades of the 44-metre Vestas V90 3MW turbines at the Offshore Windfarm Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ) in the Netherlands, after the company signed a contract with NoordzeeWind, a joint venture between Nuon (Vattenfall) and Shell.

Photo courtesy of Nuon, Jorrit Lousberg.

Alpha Offshore, a Sparrows Group company, started repairing blades in May and will continue the campaign during the summer months, with all materials necessary provided by the servicing company itself.

The scope of work depends on the requirement of each blade, and could include tip replacement, laminate repairs, lightning damage and leading edge protection systems upgrades.

To undertake the repair work, Alpha Offshore’s team will be using a variety of methods such as rope access and sky climber to safely and efficiently reach the blades. In addition to completing repairs, the team will be project managing the work, preparing risk assessment and method statements and completing reporting.

“Due to the harsh environments the offshore turbines operate in strong maintenance and repair strategies are vital to ensure integrity. As a specialist in blade inspection and repair, Alpha Offshore has carried out more than 1000 blade repair projects to date,” said Mikkel Lund, chief executive officer at Alpha Offshore. “Our breadth of experience enables us to effectively address the issues faced by windfarm operators and by undertaking this repair work we can ensure the safety and integrity of operations at OWEZ.”

OWEZ, the first large wind farm built in the Dutch sector of the North Sea, comprises 36 Vestas 3MW turbines and has been operational since 2006, generating enough electricity to supply 100,000 houses.

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